MARKET SEGMENT Learning objectives: To understand the importance of segmenting a market. To identify the ways a market can be segmented.

TARGET MARKET:  A target market is a specific group of buyers on whose needs and wants a company focuses its marketing efforts

Why do we need to target our products?  Accurate target market selection is crucial to productive marketing efforts. Products and even companies sometimes fail because marketers do not identify appropriate customer groups at which to aim their efforts.  Organizations that try to be all things to all people rarely satisfy the needs of any customer group very well. Identification and analysis of a target market provide a foundation on which a marketing mix can be developed.

NO TARGET MARGET= NO SUCCESS!  Organizations that try to be all things to all people rarely satisfy the needs of any customer group very well. Identification and analysis of a target market provide a foundation on which a marketing mix can be developed. Advantages of target marketing are:  Your attention is focused on one specific market area, which is likely to result in your marketing campaigns being far more cost- and time-efficient.  You appear to be a specialist in the prospective customer's own field, and you can increasingly build up a reputation as being just that.  Your promotion material is highly relevant to their needs, and is less likely to be junked  You stand out from your competitors  By differentiating yourself from your competitors, prospective customers are less likely to focus on price as the key issue, thus enhancing your profit margins

These are the four main ways how to segment a market:  Demographics  Psychographics  Geographic's  Behaviouristic Variables

Demographics:  Age, gender, income, ethnicity, occupation, religion, race, social class, family size;

Psychographics:  Lifestyles, interests, opinions, behaviour, perceptions and attitudes;

Geographic's:  Post codes, city, county and country size, terrain, climate, region, urban, suburban, rural; natural resources

Behaviouristic Variables:  Volume usage, benefit expectations, brand loyalty.

Socio Economic Segment

Your marketing objectives  Your marketing objectives should be based on understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and the business environment you operate in. They should also be linked to your overall business strategy.  For example, suppose your business objectives include increasing sales by 10 per cent over the next year. Your marketing objectives might include targeting a promising new market segment to help achieve this growth.

Your marketing objectives  Objectives should always be SMART:  Specific - for example, you might set an objective of getting ten new customers.  Measurable - whatever your objective is, you need to be able to check whether you have reached it or not when you review your plan.  Achievable - you must have the resources you need to achieve the objective. The key resources are usually people and money.  Realistic - targets should stretch you, not de- motivate you because they are unreasonable.  Time-bound - you should set a deadline for achieving the objective. For example, you might aim to get ten new customers within the next 12 months.

Your marketing objectives  Marketing Objectives for a Travel Agency Achieve an annual growth rate of at least 10%. Promote adventure activities through strategic alliances with health clubs, local athletic organizations, and retailers. By the end of year three, achieve 15% of sales through the Internet. Become the market leader of adventure travel in the Woodville area.

Your marketing objectives  Marketing Objectives for a Tech consulting firm We need to establish ourselves as experts. This means being quoted in major trade press, speaking at industry events, and gaining recognition. Our measurable and specific objective is to be introduced in three major events as established experts in the field of international market entry. We need brand-name reference clients. By the end of this year, we need three major brand names we can cite as clients. We need to be able to reference by name and contact phone number. We need at least one client in each of three main regions. United States and Europe for sure, and also either Latin America or Asia. We can't be who we claim to be without being truly multi-continental.

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